Arsenal plotting €30m January move for Italian international

The dust has barely settled following the closure of the summer transfer window and the media are already looking ahead to January, with the Guardian reporting that Arsenal are plotting a €30m move for Juventus forward Simone Zaza this winter.

Arsene Wenger spent deadline day desperately trying to bring in another striker with his need for attacking reinforcements heightened following the news that Danny Welbeck needed surgery on a knee injury – something the club learned last Friday.

After missing out on key targets such as Karim Benzema and Edinson Cavani, Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio claimed that the boss made a late attempt on Tuesday to land Simone Zaza from Juventus.

However, with the Italian transfer window closed, the Serie A champions refused to do business as they weren’t able to bring in a replacement, leaving us empty handed when the window closed.

But it appears Arsene isn’t going to drop his interest in the 24-year-old as the Guardian are carrying a report which claims we are plotting another move for Zaza this January.

The newspaper suggests that we could offer €30m (£22m) for his signature – although a loan move is also being mooted as long as we agree to pay the players entire wages and pay Juve a £1.4m loan fee.

Who knows how much truth there is behind this latest report but I’d personally be surprised if we went back in for Zaza. It sounds like he was a last resort move on deadline day so I’d expect Arsene to try again for his prime targets before looking at the Italian international.

It’s all irrelevant for now as we’re stuck with the squad we have for the next four months so we better pray that Oli Giroud, Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott manage to stay fit, or we could be in trouble….